MBTA proposes new garage for battery-powered buses at Arborway yard

The Arborway bus yard has been in place since the early 1900s. It first serves streetcars going to and from various wheel spoke destinations. At one time and for a number of years it even had a ramp track in place that connected with the overhead steel elevated structure that eventually became the Orange Line. This allowed repairs to be done at Arborway shops before the dedicated repair shops for elevated rail cars was built on land on Hyde Park Ave opposite Walk Hill Street... now many apartments.

The yard continued to be the terminus for streetcars and buses. Vehicles never showed Forest hills as a destination since a couple of thousand feet more was the Arborway yard and that was the terminus for all of the lines emanating from there.

There was never a designation for the Arborway yard to be "temporary." They are there for the long term and have no plans to move. People who have moved into the apartment developments knew what they were moving next to. If they were told the yard was moving, the real estate agent lied heavily.

The only thing "temporary" is the CNG fueling station. The MBTA wanted it to be permanent but Boston Fire Department would not issue a permanent license to operate. They only issue renewable temp permits. The MBTA wanted to convert all of its bus fleets to CNG due to the emissions improvements, but no other city or town would give them permits -- even tempt ones. So the only place the MBTA can refuel a CNG bus is at Forest Hills (hence the dedicated fleet), at the Cabot Shops in South Boston, and the Silver Line Shops in Roxbury. The latter 2 are smaller in capabilities. The few CNG buses at the Everett Shops used for testing and training have to have a CNG truck come on site to refuel those handful of vehicles.

That bus and train yard would still be servicing streetcars if the MBTA had restored the Green Line as a court order had required from the Heath Street loop to Arborway. The loop now used by the Silverline some time back on the Arborway/Morton Street side of the station actually has streetcar tracks buried underneath the surface asphalt and that was always visible until the most-recent rebuild. Streetcars would have an option to loop there or go into the Arborway yard for service and storage. They weaseled out of the court order and now people in JP are trying to lobby for the line's restoration.

There have been people advocating the yard be relocated to state land down by the American Legion Highway bridge off Morton Street but there is no infrastructure there, i.e. sewer, water, power, gas, etc. Also consider that a 100-year plus bus and train yard that existed before any EPA laws existed may have a lot of sins resting just under the asphalt. Any building there of any nature may require some soil mitigation for petroleum, and lots of other nastys. As it is, this new electric facility will have to address that likely.

As to it permanently serving electric buses, don't plan on that. The test units failed most of the tests under stress. They required long recharge intervals. Use for AC and heat as well as traffic idle times used up battery power at unexpected rates. If the planned purchase for battery buses is what this yard will serve, we should be looking at the reliability of the planned vehicles. Efforts by the T to obtain other types of vehicles have been stymied by many rules, regulations, and permitting issues. In the end their only choice to keep people moving was to get diesel buses. This could happen again.

So anyone thinking that this location was to be "temporary" is operating under a false assumption. Only the fueling system is and was temporary. The area is zoned heavy industrial and that is what will remain there.